Shoshana (2023)
Directed by Michael Winterbottom
by Paola Brunetta
Michael Winterbottom is an eclectic filmmaker. His versatility is evident both in the themes he tackles and the genres he experiments with: realism, drama, science fiction, thriller, erotic film, musical, historical film, and even documentary. One could say his primary interest lies in reality, both historical and contemporary. Many of his works aim to portray human beings, the dynamics of relationships, and the context in which individuals exist, such as 1867 California in The Claim or, as in this case, Palestine in the 1930s and 1940s, and how that context influences people’s lives. Some of his films are more “light” or commercial (The Killer Inside Me), while others are more serious and committed (Go Now, In This World, Genova), but the director’s perspective on reality remains a constant. Even when not directly addressing reality in documentaries like The Road to Guantanamo or, in line with his latest film, Eleven Days in May, he has always sought to convey its weight and significance, sometimes infusing it with wonder (Wonderland) or exposing its brutality (Welcome to Sarajevo), even in a journalistic sense (A Mighty Heart). His most reality-grounded films have won the Golden Bear and Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2003 and 2006.
Particularly interesting are his works that blend thriller or melodrama elements, which are more dynamic and appealing to a broader audience, with contemporary or historical realism or documentary elements, such as Shoshana (2023), presented at the Toronto Film Festival just a month before the October 7 attacks on Israel. The genesis of this film dates back to 2008 when Winterbottom was a guest at the Jerusalem Film Festival with A Mighty Heart. Together with his producer Joshua Hyams, he began to delve into the history of Palestine, exploring archives like the Spielberg Archive in Jerusalem, to gather information and materials for the project he was starting to envision. Over the next fifteen years, he conducted casting, considered possible locations, interviewed people, and read Geoffrey Morton’s autobiography, as well as Tom Segev’s One Palestine, Complete, from which he drew the story of Shoshana, a journalist and daughter of socialist Zionist movement co-founder Ber Borochov. This story, however, is freely interpreted and fictionalized within a faithfully reconstructed context.
The film begins with archival footage related to post-war Palestine, moving to 1938, the year Tom Wilkin is sent to Tel Aviv following the execution of Shlomo Ben-Yosef for terrorism, where he meets Shoshana. It continues to 1942, the year Avraham Stern, a poet and activist previously arrested and then released due to the outbreak of World War II, is killed by British mandate forces. In 1944, Wilkin is assassinated by right-wing Zionists in Jerusalem, where he had been sent the previous year as he had become a target of extremist forces. Finally, the film moves to the post-war period when the Haganah becomes a real army, and Shoshana, always a pacifist, fights to expel the British from Palestine. The work focuses on three elements: the history of Palestine in the 1930s-40s, just before the founding of the state of Israel; the British presence in the area and the role British mandate forces played as intermediaries between Arabs and Jews and as a counterforce to terrorism on both sides, but also as a hegemonic colonial power; and the stories of its characters, the romantic relationship between Shoshana and Wilkin, as well as the professional relationship between Wilkin and his superior Geoffrey Morton, and between Morton and Stern.
The first thread, illustrated with archival footage and faux black-and-white documentaries with Shoshana’s voice-over explaining the progression of events, starts from the 1897 Zionist Congress in Basel. It shows the arrival of the first settlers, followed by the Arab revolt and subsequent Jewish terrorism carried out by the Irgun when their numbers reached 500,000 in the mid-1930s. The film highlights that in 1930s Tel Aviv, a secular and progressive city tied to Ber Borochov’s socialist Zionism, the Irgun lacked popular support and was considered an isolated terrorist group, opposed by both British police and moderate Zionists. Although Shlomo Ben-Yosef, executed in 1938 for an attack on a bus full of Arab civilians, was already seen as a martyr of revisionist Zionism and considered a hero by many, the Haganah, of which Shoshana was a part, was initially a non-violent force (defending Jewish settlements) aiming for coexistence between the Arab and Jewish populations in the same territory. It was only during World War II that the Haganah became a full-fledged army, at times collaborating with the Irgun and Lehi to expel the British mandate authority from Palestine, which happened in 1948 with the proclamation of the State of Israel. Shoshana, who proudly states her father was a socialist and who initially opposes extreme Zionism, takes up arms against the British mandate following Wilkin’s death in an escalating spiral of violence. The film significantly ends with a close-up of her (in black and white) behind a machine gun, with a stunning freeze-frame as the sound of gunfire continues. Winterbottom seems to suggest that violence begets violence, even drawing in those who wish to avoid it due to their different values.
The second thread, focusing on the role of the United Kingdom in Palestine between 1920 and 1948, highlights not only the already mentioned aspects but also the difficulty in fully understanding and dealing with the situation in that territory, exemplified by Morton’s killing of Stern. This element is likened by Winterbottom to all foreign attempts at mediation, democratization, or modernization of a country using armed forces, such as the United States in Afghanistan.
The third thread concerns the film’s fictional aspects, from the love story between Shoshana and Wilkin, which becomes strained as they find themselves on opposing sides, to the power dynamics within the British police force, and the equally significant but less explicit relationship between Morton and Stern.
In addition to being a gripping historical thriller, the film is a full-fledged romantic drama, shot in a classic yet effective style, particularly in its editing and music, with Gershwin’s “The Man I Love” accompanying the narrative. It recounts historical events but can also be enjoyed more lightly as auteur entertainment, thanks in part to the performances of Douglas Booth, Harry Melling, and especially Irina Staršenbaum, who delivers a luminous and expressive portrayal of Shoshana.
Cineforum, July 7, 2024
